Brockton murder suspect used to say hi' to everybody

Joao Fillipe DeAndrade was well-known in the city’s Cape Verdean community, and would often play cards with his Cape Verdean friends, Anna Moniz said Sunday. He is charged with killing Jacinto Correia, 49, his longtime friend, after the two men got into an argument over a woman, the victim’s relatives said.

Joao Fillipe DeAndrade was well-known in the city’s Cape Verdean community, and would often play cards with his Cape Verdean friends, Anna Moniz said Sunday.

Moniz, 24, saw DeAndrade as a friendly and “older Cape Verdean guy who used to say ‘Hi’ to everybody,” she said.

But Moniz never predicted DeAndrade, 50, would one day be accused of murder. He is charged with killing her cousin, Jacinto Correia, 49, a married father who was fatally stabbed on Friday, allegedly by DeAndrade, his longtime friend.

Correia’s relatives said the two men got into an argument over a woman.

Moniz cried Sunday afternoon as she spoke near a makeshift memorial for her slain cousin outside 55 Prospect St., where DeAndrade had been living, and where Correira was murdered on Friday afternoon.

A blood-soaked mattress lay near several trash bags outside the front door of the multi-family house. Inside, a small bedroom where family members said Correia was fatally stabbed was empty after being cleaned over the weekend.

Outside, a few feet away, the makeshift memorial included a large photograph of Correia, the words “RIP Primo,” a bouquet of yellow and pink flowers, and several religious candles.

Two days earlier, DeAndrade, Correia, and a third person had spent much of Friday together inside the apartment.

Friday afternoon, DeAndrade and Correia got into an argument, and DeAndrade stabbed Correia several times in the legs, Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said. Correia was pronounced dead about 3:30 p.m. at a local hospital.

Correia’s relatives said the men had been longtime friends in Cape Verde and that the fight began over a woman.

“The thing happened be cause of a girl. He and the other guy that stabbed him were seeing the same girl,” Correia’s cousin, Vasco DeAndre of Brockton, said Saturday.

Correia, a warehouse worker, came to Brockton from Cape Verde in 2011. A married father of six, Correia was in the process of petitioning for his wife and five of his children, who live in Cape Verde, to come to America.

But people on Sunday had little information about the accused murderer, DeAndrade. His roommate of one month, a man named Ju, said through an interpreter that he rarely saw DeAndrade, since they had varied work shifts, and that he did not know him well.

In 2009, Brockton police arrested DeAndrade, then 45, on an assault and battery charge. Details on what prompted that arrest were not available Sunday.

Friday’s slaying was the first murder in Brockton in 2014.

Councilor-at-large Moises Rodrigues, who in November became the first Cape Verdean elected to the Brockton City Council, could not be reached for comment on Sunday. Rodrigues is in Cape Verde until Jan. 23, his wife said.

Page 2 of 2 - Meanwhile, as Correia’s funeral is being planned, Moniz said she and his family are still stunned by the murder that resulted among two friends.

“It’s just sad... they all used to hang out and drink, play cards,” Moniz said. “Everybody was friends. No one knows.”

DeAndrade “never looked like he could hurt anybody,” she said. “Big shock.”